The song of a shadow
by ShadowSong StarGlaive The Wolf
Summary: When ShadowSong the wolf's whole pack is slain by the Juskabor, she seeks revenge... and comes upon Redwall Abbey! [Complete]
1. The beginnings of a shadow

This content of Redwall and any names Brian Jacques has created in Redwall are strictly his. Only a few characters are mine. No flames because of spoilers. Just read Taggerung first.!  
~1~  
  
ShadowSong the wolf raced under the pouring rain and thick undergrowth. Her jet-black fur was wet and plastered to her cut and aching face. A glaive, a staff capped with two feet of steel on the edge, was gripped close to her side. She hurled herself into a deep patch of bush, waiting for the rain to cease. Pulling a black stone out of her sling pouch, she rubbed it with her sling. It shone wet and glistening with rain. A flash of lightning lit up its smooth features. Two sapphires were embedded deep in the piece of obsidian, making it look like some ghastly countenance. Gently rubbing it, she waited for the rain to halt. The night plunged on, unaware of a tired traveler.  
*** At Redwall Abbey, it was pure chaos. The Abbeybabes, or Dibbuns, had stolen their way out of the dormitories, and had attempted to raid the kitchens. The raid was unsuccessful, for Abbess Mhera had caught the Dibbuns and sent them up to bed, with no supper. The babes sent up a wailing din.  
"Nowannagobed!"  
Deyna, the Abbess's brother, picked up a sword above a magnificent tapestry. "Go, or I will chop off your tails and pickle them in vinegar!"  
Oplleas Spearback, the cellar keeper, shook his spiky head. "Don't expect me to give you it, I'm not wasting good vinegar on those rascals, ho no sir!"  
However, the Dibbuns ran off squeaking, wanting to keep their tails after all.  
Mhera breathed a sigh of relief. "Those Dibbuns are getting restless because of the rain. I think breakfast could be held in the dormitories to save beasts ear from getting chatted off, Deyna?"  
The otter rubbed the pommel stone on the sword. "Right, Abbess. I'll go tell the elders now."  
Abbess Mhera shook her head. "No, Oplleas and I will." She flicked her rudder in a sign of action. "Let's go, Oplleas."  
The fat hedgehog scuttled off after her. "And I was comfortable too!"  
Deyna stared at the blade of Martin the warrior. The three-quarter inch blood channel ran between the keen edges. The tip was like an icicle tip, sharp and deadly. It was legend that a Badger Lord had made it out of a star chunk falling from the sky. It was named RatDeath by Abbot Mortimer, seasons beyond seasons ago when Cluny the Scourge had attacked Redwall. Not a blade was like it. Not a warrior like Martin the warrior was like any other!  
*** 


	2. The fight of a shadow

ShadowSong stepped out of the clump of bushes shielding her. It was two hours after dawn.  
She was clad in a tunic of faded gray and a cloak of black cloth. Two daggers hung parallel from the other, each with a black pommel stone at the end. Her sling pouch held many pebbles, her sling made of dyed green cotton. A rapier was thrust in her belt with a tough steel sheath.  
It is every warrior's goal and dream  
To be upon each battle scene  
It is every warrior's honor and life  
To slay the foebeast upon a knife  
A warrior's code is the warrior's word  
So the foes don't avoid the sword!  
  
ShadowSong ended her ditty when three vermin, a rat and two stoats, strutted into view. All were wearing holey rags and were armed with rusty or broken weapons.  
One of them, a stoat, pointed at her food sack. "Give us what goodies are in there, and smartish!" He pulled a rusty dagger from his muddied cloak, and waved it at her.  
ShadowSong hated vermin, cowards and bullies. She especially hated beasts that demanded things from her. She unsheathed one of her daggers quickly, then hurled it.  
The stoat that pointed gazed in wonder at the dagger in his heart, then dropped. ShadowSong bounded over, and in two moves, pulled the dagger out and cracked her glaive over the head of the rat.  
"Owoowww! Why diger do that? We ain't done nothing to yer. You slayed ole Sikler fer no reason! Owwwowww!"  
ShadowSong hefted the glaive, which had no dents or splinters, and thrust it in the uninjured stoat's direction. "I don't have time or patience for fools or bullies. Next word gets you cold steel. I want you out in three seconds. One. two.."  
The vermin that were living scattered. ShadowSong kicked the slain Sikler in a patch of deep and soft loam and covered him with dead leaves and undergrowth. She continued travling with ease, know the vermin would stay away for a long time.  
Surugiar the searat, or known among shipmates as Suru, was captain of the then sinking CrabCarcass. He was heading towards the land, whichen had be sighted by Dilear.  
"Land ho!" cried Dilear. He was clad in tawdry rags, brown and red, with a cutlass in his belt. Suru, however, had two silettoes and a whip in his sash, and wore his victim's clothing. Today, it was a deep green tunic he had gotten from a slain hare on the shores of Salamandastron. His brown pelt made him look like a forest.  
Salamandastron! Suru had always heard tales around campfires about the place, so he decided to defeat the hares and badgers living there. With a crew of fourscore, he knew he was match for anything. But not the hares, or the Badger Ladies Icebright and Mooneye were to be toyed with. Captain Surugiar of the CrabCarcass had lost threescore before hastily retreating to his ship. Now, the ship was sinking down, lower every minute.  
Suru glanced up at the squint-eyed Dilear. "Ahoy, Dilear, mate, how far is the patch of land?"  
Dilear peered closer. "About arf a shiplength, iffen we don't sink afore then! Ahoy, cast out anchor!"  
There was no need for the anchor- sand was piling up around the saturated crew and boat. Searats, random ferrets and a scattering of foxes and stoats jumped out of the boat, now at tail level.  
Suru was the last off. He shook water droplets off his mud colored coat and looked around. Some of the crew was picking berries off trees gingerly, while some fished around in the sinking boats for some last victuals floating in the wreckage.  
Suru cleared his throat, gagged, then spoke. "Mates, we're in need of vittles, so Deckler, Spoteye, Halfsnout, you go and forage. The rest of us are going to make a fire and feast on the vittles youse'll find!"  
This was greeting by cheers and much paw stamping. The three foragers sped off into the forest. The rest of the crew started collecting boughs and dry wood from either the forest of sinking boat.  
Suru smiled. Finally, things were going his way.  
  
*** At Salamandastron, the two badgers Mooneye and Icebright were at the mess hall, eating. A hare was preforming a dance, and not very successfully either.  
A vetren hare, Krelgar, eyed the hare with distaste. "Hmph! His pater probably was a bally toad and his mater a scalded worm. Yes, sah!"  
The dancing hare bounced over to the area where Krelgar sat. "Hello, chap, you old dust noggin, wot!"  
Krelgar swiped at the hare. "Young snipfur! Haifal, you are an insolent scutwagger. Go or I'll tell Lady Icebright if you want trouble!"  
Haifal's ears drooped. "Sorry, sah, I'll behave." Then he muttered, "If frogs begin to skip on his bally head, wot!"  
At the other end of the table, Lady Icebright herself and her twin sister Mooneye were chewing on some honeyed scones. Icebright stared at the dab of honey on her paw, then slammed it down.  
Craccckk! The length of plank spilt, causing a deep fracture in the tough oaken table.  
"Twelve hares lost! To sea scum!" The Badger Lady snarled. She raised her paw again to strike the table.  
A gentle paw stopped her slate blue paw. "Icebright, those hares died defending us. Surely they are at a better place, with sunny hills and breezy summers." Lady Mooneye clasped her angry sister's paw. "Please."  
Icebright drew her lip back in anger, but no longer hit the table. She stood up. "I'm going to the armory. Nobeast follow, or you will be sorry!"  
*** 


	3. The story of a shadow

At Salamandastron, the two badgers Mooneye and Icebright were at the mess hall, eating. A hare was preforming a dance, and not very successfully either.  
A vetren hare, Krelgar, eyed the hare with distaste. "Hmph! His pater probably was a bally toad and his mater a scalded worm. Yes, sah!"  
The dancing hare bounced over to the area where Krelgar sat. "Hello, chap, you old dust noggin, wot!"  
Krelgar swiped at the hare. "Young snipfur! Haifal, you are an insolent scutwagger. Go or I'll tell Lady Icebright if you want trouble!"  
Haifal's ears drooped. "Sorry, sah, I'll behave." Then he muttered, "If frogs begin to skip on his bally head, wot!"  
At the other end of the table, Lady Icebright herself and her twin sister Mooneye were chewing on some honeyed scones. Icebright stared at the dab of honey on her paw, then slammed it down.  
Craccckk! The length of plank spilt, causing a deep fracture in the tough oaken table.  
"Twelve hares lost! To sea scum!" The Badger Lady snarled. She raised her paw again to strike the table.  
A gentle paw stopped her slate blue paw. "Icebright, those hares died defending us. Surely they are at a better place, with sunny hills and breezy summers." Lady Mooneye clasped her angry sister's paw. "Please."  
Icebright drew her lip back in anger, but no longer hit the table. She stood up. "I'm going to the armory. Nobeast follow, or you will be sorry!"  
*** Abbess Mhera was up in the dormitories, serving oatmeal with dried cherries, strawberries and pear with honey. The Dibbuns, never having breakfast served in the dorms, were excited and wriggled with happieness.  
"Sit still, Gulbur! Abbess, may you?" asked a female squirrel called Fwirl. "These rouges are as wild as leaves in a gale."  
Deyna, spooning oatmeal in a molebabe's bowl a few truckle beds away, winked. "Don't fuss yore bushy tail, marm." He raised his voice to a high pitched shriek. "Eeeeyaaaaaaaa!"  
The room silence was deafing, except for the drip of oatmeal on clean sheets. Denya bowed at the Abbess. "The floor's yores, Abbess."  
The Abbess unplugged her ears. "Er, what?"  
A little mousebabe, Diggler, poked her with his slightly sticky spoon. "Ta foors yors, Habbess."  
Every adult present laughed, except Sister Sicily. She pursed her lips and frowned. Broggle the Friar poked her with a cleaner spoon than what Diggler had. "Cheer up, Sicily. Er, Boorab and Nimbalo, sing 'er a ditty."  
The beastly pair struck up an offkey but cheery and light tune.  
"Oh, ho, I'll plug your mug or wait a while  
To see that liddle smile!  
I knows somebeasts who frown all day  
Or sneer at laugh and play  
But they saw on someone something funny  
On the beast licking honey  
It was a jolly old smile,  
Worth the wait and bally while  
So slap that frown  
Off it's face  
And with a smile  
You'll replace!"  
  
Boorab and Nimbalo bowed. Everybeast clapped, and Sicily managed to hide shaky smile. But the Dibbuns were far from happy.  
"Where's me oatmeal?"  
"Bah, I's gonna stick wiv a fown, dey be easier to do!"  
The Abbess quickly dumped uneven portions of oatmeal into bowls, some of it slopping over the edges, but the babes, being the Dibbuns they are, thought it was all great hilarity.  
"Fasta, Muvva Habbess, fasta!"  
"Hurr, io be get'n it in moi gurt noser, hurr hurr!"  
"Hehe, I bees licking it, yum yum!"  
Nimbalo swiped a spoonful of oatmeal from a squirrel attemping to lick her oatmeal-encrusted tail clean. "Is there more scoff like this for breakfast?"  
Deyna chuckled at his harvest mouse friend's antics. "Matey, if there were, you'd have to beat Boorab at it!"  
Boorab, with Nimbalo at his scut, sped out of the dormitories to the Great Hall, where breakfast was being served to the other members of Redwall Abbey. "I say, chap, no need to eat all the fodder! First to the scoff call gets it. Yahhh!"  
Foremole Grumde shook his velvety head. "Burr aye, those rarscals ur gonna eat all e vittles we 'ave." He dripped some food into a once brown oak bowl, now snowy white from food crusting on it.  
The Abbess stood up, a difficult task due to all the oats and dried fruit sticking to her ears and liberally smeared across her muzzle. "I'm am going to eat. All the Dibbuns are fed, but we need a few beasts up here to watch them. Any volunteers?"  
Foremole Grumde raised a great digging claw. "Oi will, marm."  
Deyna nodded. "Good. Sister Cilily, what are you."  
The Sister, who was staring at the window, suddenly leapt up. "There's a beast at the gate!"  
* * * ShadowSong had eventually come to the path across the plains. She stared in wonder at the giant red Abbey. She went up to the front of the gate, then heard a loud clunking noise. The gate swung open to reveal otters, mice, hedgehogs and even a hare. The hare, carrying window pole, nodded to her. "Hmph! Looks like a vermin!"  
Deyna took a step forward. He was armed with the sword of Martin. He spoke to her. "What do you want here? Speak!"  
ShadowSong, unsure of the beast, bowed and held up her paws in sign of peace. "I'm ShadowSong of the MoonSky wolf pack, sir."  
The once Taggerung glanced at Sister Rosabel the recorder, who was gripping a heavy knife from the kitchens. She stared at the wolf.  
"You seem a traveler, but where is your pack? We outnumber you, and no lies!"  
ShadowSong unhitched her weapons. The otter tensed up, but he had no need to. She tossed her weapons in a pile on the dusty road. "My pack was slain by the Juska clan called Juskabor. I traveled for many I came upon your home in search of news, if you knew where the Juskabor has passed by. But, since I am faced armed and myself unarmed." She turned away, but the stopped because of Rosabel crying out.  
"Wait! You're looking for the Juskabor? They've passed here recently. Let me get the records!" With that, she bounded away.  
ShadowSong swerved back around. "I shall stay out here then."  
Deyna took a step closer. "Marm, you're coming in. You can't stay out there alone." 


	4. The targets of a shadow

Suru and his shipmates had foraged and found a good amount of birds, fruit, roots and vegetables. Suru leaned back from his fire, chewing on a piece of roast trout. "Ah! Nothing like roast trout to put the sea in your mouth, eh, me hearties?"  
A short-tailed rat named Cuttail looked up from his cooking woodpigeon. "Aye, Cap'n. Why ain't we staying 'ere the rest of us days? It's a good spot wid vittles and water. Plunder don't bother me now, I likes this place!"  
A stoat by the name of Seaskin, glaced at Cuttail, who's tail had been chopped off by a skillful fox. " 'avent yew 'eard? The Cap'n been here afore, and there's more plunder at Redwall Abbey then anywheres!"  
Cuttail, who was gnawing on the hot pigeon, grinned. "I've heard o that place. Magic swords, booty and the best food anywheres! It'll be a like slaying a blade of grass to conquer that place!" 


	5. The findings of a shadow

ShadowSong gazed in wonder at the architectural achievments of Redwall Abbey. She stared at the great beams and arches that supported the weight and mass of Redwall. Softly hued pink sandstone rippled and wrinkled under the tiny grains that made up a whole block of stone. She rubbed a paw gently against the sandy oblong cubes of rock.  
Deyna noticed her wonder. "Something bothering you, marm?"  
ShadowSong scratched a little white mark in the cherry sandstone. "My den was made of sandstone, but it was a lighter shade, yellowish, like sulfur. And it's not marm. ShadowSong is fine."  
The recorder Rosabel bounded into the hall nimbly, even for a squirrel. She nearly knocked over Mhera. Jumping in a vacent oak chair, she pulled a short scroll and a pair of reading glasses. "Sorry, Abbess. Look, everybeast, I found the records!"  
ShadowSong smiled, a strange sight for a wolf. "Please do carry on."  
Rosabel took a deep drink of elderberry cordial that was on the table for tea, put on the glasses, and started.  
" 'It has been three days since Lord Russano came and shunned the Juskabor (here ShadowSong jerked slightly but did not speak) to the land of the Southern Coasts. Such a sight never was, three hundred vermin being whisked away by a single badger! But this was Russano the Wise, and not to be trifled with. With fighting hares at his back, the Lord was confident that the vermin would not fight. Redwall is still hosting a four day long feast, and I must go back and see that the hares have not eaten all the woodland trife.'" Rosabel took off the glasses and drained the flagon of any liquid left. "So the Southern Coasts is where they are."  
ShadowSong unsheathed her rapier. "Then I must avenge my pack. I am sorry to leave so quickly, but they might move and I will lose the tracks of the Juskabor!"  
Deyna held up a paw. "Now, ShadowSong, you can't win against three hundred."  
She sheathed her rapier again, but with less heart than to draw it. "I need to slay them, or my pack will be angry at the Dark Forest."  
Abbess Mhera looked at Deyna. "Could you contact Skipper? He might lend a few otters to help."  
Deyna bowed. "Shore thing, marm, but Sister Fwirl might ring the bell better than me." He turned to Sister Fwirl, but nothing but a cloud of dust was there. She had sped off to the belltower.  
Fwirl lithly sprang to the top of the giant belltower. Clinging to the ropes of Mathias and Methuselah, she rung the two bells with might.  
Bong! Bang bong boongg!  
A good population of the Redwallers came to see. Broggle, the spouse of Fwirl, beamed. "Isn't Fwirl marvelous?"  
The cellerhog shook his spiky head. "I wouldn't do that for a cask of October Ale, ho no sir!"  
One of the Dibbuns trundled off. The Abbess turned and picked him up. "Where are you going?"  
He replied, pointing at the door. "There be ratters out dere, me wanna go see dem."  
This caused chaos. The Abbey Sisters and Brothers ran, scooping up Dibbuns, racing to the saftey of the stone building. Abbess Mhera, with her Dibbun in hand, rushed in, catching a mousebabe with her strong rudder. "Everybeast inside!"  
Fwirl jumped from the belltower to about halfway down when she spotted the beasts. "There's over. wait, there must a hundred of them!"  
Broggle ,about to slam the door, called, "Hurry, Fwirl!"  
Quickly, she jumped the rest the way down and ran inside, Broggle shutting the heavy oaken door after her. 


	6. The battle of a shadow

(Disclaimer: Redwall doesnt belong to me. I wish.) (Changed format, wot!)  
  
Ruggan Bor of the Juskabor grimanced at the sight of the mountain of Salamandastron. He hated how a simple badger lord banished a three hundred vermin Juska clan. Although Bor had surrendered, he still had a burning coal of the fire of hatred in him.  
Bor turned his thoughts from the badger to the wolf pack he recently slew. They were doddering fools, mining and harvesting like a harvest mouse family. But a looming thought of the young wolf maid that had killed a score or so of his horde before being knocked unconcious disturbed him. But he swept that away too.  
He turned to his new seer, Mahratck, the daughter of his old seer, Ermrath. "Mahratck, what do you see?"  
She looked up from her vision in the flickering flames of the blue and green fire. "I see your brother, the Juskaseer clan leader."  
Ruggan Bor shook his head at the thought of his brother, Carglen Seer. The Juska clans were far apart, but Mahratck was often seeing him. "What else, my seer?"  
She tossed a dried piece of kelp in, to see what was going on in water. "No searat ships are coming, my lord." She let the kelp burn and crisp, then flung a dried leaf off an oak tree. Peering closer, she bit her lip.  
"What is it?" asked Ruggan Bor. He peered in the fire and blanched.  
A pale smoke in the shape of a badger's face rose gloomily from the ashes of the fire. Hefting a smoky sword, the smoke badger drifted close to Ruggan, then vanished.  
Ruggan trembled. "What." Mahratck shuddered also. "My lord Ruggan Bor, the spirit of a badger is haunting you!" Ruggan froze in fright, an expression never seen on him before. Fear.  
*** Lady Icebright hammered a sword blade with a mishaped tip. She glared out the window, still pounding. "I know you're out there, Surugial SeaBlade! I see you!" She pounded harder, sparks flying from the hot blade. Slamming furiously on the sizzling metal, she cried, "Eeeuuailliiaaaaaaaa!" A young hare had been passing by. Peering in the door slit, she saw not her commander, but a blaze-eyed, gigantic beast wielding a loopsided sword. She gasped, and ran to Lady Mooneye. Mooneyes was in the mess hall, helping load arrows into newly-made quivers. She smiled at the female hare. "Yes, Shiekla?" Shiekla gasped for breath. "Your sister is going mad in. the.armory! I. saw.. through. the.. door!" Mooneyes dropped the gull feather arrow and sped to the armory.  
*** Icebright slammed the anvil down. CRASHHH! The sword shattered, leaving silver shards everywhere. Mooneyes burst through the door. "Icebright!" Icebright paused, the anvil hanging from her bloodied paw that had been cut by the slivers on metal. "Stop, Icebright." Mooneyes clamped her paw down on the anvil and swiftly stole it away. Avoiding the sharp pieces of sliced metal, she threw it in the coal pile. "Surugial is far away from this place. Those twelve hares died defending our mountain, and they would not have it any other way." Icebright wiped a silvery thing from her eye, tear or metal shard. "I'm taking half the mountain hares with me. Surugial is near, maybe in Mossflower even!" Mooneyes carefully brushed the silver metal away from her foot paws. "If you say so, sister." 


	7. The scar of a shadow

Suru twirled his whip thoughtfully. After leaving the grove for Redwall, he discovered a well-used path, and ordered his five score crew to the path. It was easier walking, and the soft dust stirred, sending up motes calmly. He had known tales from being a simple bilgerat, in front of the sea coal fire and roasting sea birds. Redwall was famous from badgers to sea rats, ferrets to voles, stoats to mice.  
He eyed the sun, shielding the brightness with the bottom of his stolen tunic. "Ahoy, Cuttail, me heartie, is it midday yet?"  
Cuttail, good at time and the position of the sun, replied, "I figger one good league of walking and we'll be near-"  
Suddenly, a stoat that had turned the bend of the road cried, "Look, there's a big rock building up there!"?  
Suru, when he had caught up, cuffed him soundly. "Wot else would it be, dummy? C'mon, mates, draw yer weapons and charrrrrge!"  
The crew of fivescore rushed to the Abbey, but was greeted by yells, slingstones and arrows of contempt.  
The former crew of the CrabCarcass backed off into the ditch. Suru, rubbing his tail, which was throbbing from a slingstone, snapped. "Those Redwallers are gonna pay!" He swiped a rusty and cracked shield from a gaunt rat and jumped out of the ditch, deflecting an arrow.  
Oplleas snorted and lowered his yew bow. "An' I nearly 'ad 'im there!"  
Deyna raised a paw grasping a barkcloth sling. "Wait, let's see what the vermin have to say."  
Sister Sicily grimly chuckled. "Vermin don't say, they attack!"  
ShadowSong placed a gentle paw on the mouse. "Wait, they're speaking!"  
Suru shouted out from behind his shield. "Yew Redwallers are going to pay fer this, yew 'ear!"  
The Abbess, about to load her sling, replied. "Redwall does not pay to vermin and searats. But what do you want here?"  
Holding up a splintered spear to repel any projectiles, Cuttail yelled, "We want yon Redwall place, so haul yer tails out of there, ruddertail!"  
Deyna skillfully launched off a big round river pebble. It shattered the spear blade, sending sparks and shards of steel on the unfourtunate rat. Cuttail yowled in pain.  
Abbess Mhera shouted from the battlements, "We do not give up to rats, stoats, ferrets and foxes. Go, before we give you something to really think about!"  
Suru signaled for the crew to dive into the forest. Still clutching the battered shield, he threw himself in the thick foiliage, bellowing, "We'll hold yer siege, and then youse'll be begging for mercy!"  
*** Skipper of the Otters was in a pine grove, coming back from a river trip with the Guosim, when he heard the bells. He turned to his compainion, a stout female shrew wearing a headband of green. "Ahoy, Log-a-log, I thinks Redwall is calling!"  
The shrew, Log-a-log Marlonm, nodded. "Best 'urry up then, mate!" He turned to his shrews. "Git ready, mates, we're going to Redwall!"  
Cheers and much talk about the food and fare of Redwall Abbey greeted this.  
*** Log-a-log was near the back of the Abbey when an arrow bounced of the wall near her. She yelled out, "Let us in, mates, afore we gets slain!"  
Mhera raced to the back gate, and swung it open. A stream of shrews and otters poured in.  
Log-a-log bit her lip. "Marm, why are there vermin out there? Is that why you called?"  
Mhera shook her head wearily. "Not really, but come in." 


	8. The weapons of a shadow

*** Mhera passed out food to the otters, while Friar Broggle served the shrew. Skipper rubbed his sling absentmindly, as if he were in a trance. Speaking slowly, he said, "Well, mates, we in deep- there are about five or four score out there--" Log-a-log banged her clenched paw on the sturdy wood table. "There was fivescore! And their leader, that searat wearing a green tunic, 'e was yelling to slay us. Aye, mates, we're in deep!" Mhera shook her head. "Er, some beast have never seen war here. Can you help, Log-a-log and Skipper?" Skipper toyed with a barley scone. "Abbess, we have never given up a chance to help Redwall. Right, me maties?" The crew yelled their answer. "Blood and viniger, mates!" "We'll rudderwallop them!" "Show 'em the streamdog way!" Log-a-log nodded. "Yer clan can shout, but ours are better! Log-a-looog!" The shrews heartily replied in loud baritone voices. "Paddles to the vermin!" "Guosim Guosim Guosim!" "Log-a-looooooooooog!" The Dibbuns, some with smocks wrapped around their heads, saw a chance to speak. "Budd and baffs!" "Hurr, and choppa off them nosers, hurr aye!" "Lorra gogga wrooogg!" Deyna laughed at the babes, who were poking at the air with tails and silverware. "Lookit them, like petals in a gale!" Skipper caught a molebabe on his heavy and sturdy rudder. "I imagine that they will slay a few in their day!" ShadowSong smiled at a mouse Dibbun attempting to ride an otter tail of an otter called Veystreak. Veystreak turned, and was seen with a squirrelbabe hitched on his ears. "I tell you, missy, these beasts are savage!" Mhera and Sicliy sheperded the babies up to the dorms, for night was falling, and the sunset had passed without notice. Skipper looked out the window at the camps and shuddered. "A hundred beasts. We can't fight that much. How much do we have, Log-a-log?" Log-a-log glanced over at her tribe. "We have about fifty, counting me. Yore crew is about... oh say thirty, plus a few helping Redwallers, we have about ninty beasts. That's the lot, Skipper." Skipper stared at the glimmering campfires with solemness. "Ninty. From the tops of the battlements we can snip with bows and slings, but hand to hand combat--" ShadowSong waved a black paw. "I'm joining in too. I can't avenge my family and pack without vermin in every step." Skipper looked at the wolf maid, really looking. She had a gray tunic on, and carried many weapons. Skipper saw determined eyes and many fights under her belt. The glaive she held at ease, though the blade was sharp and had the impression of a battle worn weapon. He bowed. "Yore pack?" "MoonSky wolf pack. They were slain, by the Juskabor." Skipper nodded. "Juska. Me mate Deyna saw'em once, dincha?" Deyna, instead of telling the story of capture and escape from the Juskarath, he told her the whole story, from the fjord meeting to when Russano came. She sat through the whole thing listening. "You are the Taggerung? The one that slew a giant eel and defeated Vallug Bowbeast?" Deyna laughed. "Slew a giant eel? Hah, it was normal sized." Nimbalo, sampling a mint potato and cheese sauce playfully thumped the former Taggerung on the head then slumped down in a seat. "His matey Nimbalo wore it out, it was really me who slew it!" Deyna pushed him off the chair. "Nimbalo the Slayer, you are a dreadful liar!" Nimbalo popped up from underneath Deyna's chair. "Not really. I was a horrible liar, but someone slayed me, and now I'm a dreadful liar."  
*** 


	9. The anger of a shadow

A/N In the Juska part, the seer was named Mahtrack, but I changed it to Ermrath, like in the book. Sorry!  
  
A rat named Rukkug who fired the arrow that nearly caught Log-a-log stamped down on a dry pine twig. "I almost got that shrew with an arrer!" Suru, pushing a stray twig in the fire, laughed dully. "Almost? Yew missed, and a miss is a good as a league off!" Rukkug scoffed. "This Redwall place ain't worth is. Lookit us, living off the land while we could be out'n the sea!" Cuttail protested. "We don't have no ship! What now, Rukkug?" Rukkug had an idea forming. "We asks the stoopid mice for some building stuff. When dey comes, we slay most them and take a few beasts to build our ship. Mebbe some of us could rule Redwall!" Suru nodded, but had a sarcastic reply. "Oh, a grand ould idea, but did yer see the otters and squirrels? There was a wolf up there!" Cuttail shook his dirty head, picking an apple off the ground and spearing it one a sharp stick. "They die as easily as anybeast. My grandfather saw a wolf once. It didn't do nothing to 'im!"  
Suru, stabbing a pear, asked a very sarcastic reply. "And did 'e find himself eated after that, or was the youse stoopid brain forgetting somethin!"  
*** ShadowSong and Deyna were training the normally docil Redwallers in combat. There was a full armory in the belltower, and even great amounts of pebbles near the Abbey pond.  
ShadowSong shook her furry black head. "Sister Rosabel, the lance end points the other way." The squirrel Sister bashfully tilted the tip toward the apple that she was supposed to be aiming at. She pulled her arm back for the throw, but the sleek yew wood slipped out of her paw's grasp. Blushing a deep crimison, she bent down to pick it up. A slingstone fell to the grass next to her face. ShadowSong grabbed a bow, clipped an arrow on, and swung up and loosed over the battlements. An agonized scream split the air. ShadowSong shot three more, but to no avail. Every beast present heard the shout from Suru. "This is war!" ShadowSong hooked another arrow on the beeswaxed string, but Deyna placed a paw on her shaft. "Wait. They're slinging stones, because we have rounded pebbles on the Abbey pond area, and this one was sharp and irregular." He turned. "Everybeast inside, it ain't safe nomore out here for a while!" Redwallers quickly streamed in the oaken door, Broggle slamming it shut for the second time that day.  
*** There were two thousand hares on the mountain. Icebright, ignoring all rules, stormed into the widest part of the mountain, the training arena, and shouted, "I want Colonel Jegat, Sergant Rulnear, and Captain Uglar to round up three hundred hares each. Don't stand there all day, do it!" They officers stood smartly at attention for a minute, then the Badger Lady slammed the door. Colonel Jegat slumped down on a carved rock chair, which was scarred and dented from miss thrown daggers. "Super dooper, wot, we have to round up nine hundred beasts! Where do we start, Rulnear?" The Sergant snorted. "Easy, old chap. Listen up, wot wot!" He took in a breath, then bellowed: "Listen up, chaps and chappesses! You want to fight in the bally old Long Patrol, eh? You sloppy rabbits need some experience, not chopping away at some fire hole, wot! I want nine lines of a hundred, here, here and here! Euillliiiaaaaaaa!" A roar exploded from the vast chambers of the dormant cavern. An echo erupted from the sides, detonating everywhere. "Euillliiiaaaaaaa! Euillliiiaaaaaaa! Euillliiiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" 


	10. The warnings of a shadow

Mhera passed out food to the otters, while Friar Broggle served the shrew. Skipper rubbed his sling absentmindly, as if he were in a trance. Speaking slowly, he said, "Well, mates, we in deep- there are about five or four score out there--"  
  
Log-a-log banged her clenched paw on the sturdy wood table. "There was fivescore! And their leader, that searat wearing a green tunic, 'e was yelling to slay us. Aye, mates, we're in deep!"  
  
Mhera shook her head. "Er, some beast have never seen war here. Can you help, Log-a-log and Skipper?"  
  
Skipper toyed with a barley scone. "Abbess, we have never given up a chance to help Redwall. Right, me maties?"  
  
The crew yelled their answer. "Blood and viniger, mates!"  
  
"We'll rudderwallop them!"  
  
"Show 'em the streamdog way!"  
  
Log-a-log nodded. "Yer clan can shout, but ours are better! Log-a-looog!" The shrews heartily replied in loud baritone voices. "Paddles to the vermin!"  
  
"Guosim Guosim Guosim!"  
  
"Log-a-looooooooooog!"  
  
The Dibbuns, some with smocks wrapped around their heads, saw a chance to speak.  
  
"Budd and baffs!"  
  
"Hurr, and choppa off them nosers, hurr aye!"  
  
"Lorra gogga wrooogg!"  
  
Deyna laughed at the babes, who were poking at the air with tails and silverware. "Lookit them, like petals in a gale!"  
  
Skipper caught a molebabe on his heavy and sturdy rudder. "I imagine that they will slay a few in their day!"  
  
ShadowSong smiled at a mouse Dibbun attempting to ride an otter tail of an otter called Veystreak. Veystreak turned, and was seen with a squirrelbabe hitched on his ears. "I tell you, missy, these beasts are savage!"  
  
Mhera and Sicliy sheperded the babies up to the dorms, for night was falling, and the sunset had passed without notice. Skipper looked out the window at the camps and shuddered. "A hundred beasts. We can't fight that much. How much do we have, Log-a-log?"  
  
Log-a-log glanced over at her tribe. "We have about fifty, counting me. Yore crew is about... oh say thirty, plus a few helping Redwallers, we have about ninty beasts. That's the lot, Skipper."  
  
Skipper stared at the glimmering campfires with solemness. "Ninty. From the tops of the battlements we can snip with bows and slings, but hand to hand combat--"  
  
ShadowSong waved a black paw. "I'm joining in too. I can't avenge my family and pack without vermin in every step."  
  
Skipper looked at the wolf maid, really looking. She had a gray tunic on, and carried many weapons. Skipper saw determined eyes and many fights under her belt. The glaive she held at ease, though the blade was sharp and had the impression of a battle worn weapon. He bowed. "Yore pack?"  
  
"MoonSky wolf pack. They were slain, by the Juskabor."  
  
Skipper nodded. "Juska. Me mate Deyna saw'em once, dincha?"  
  
Deyna, instead of telling the story of capture and escape from the Juskarath, he told her the whole story, from the fjord meeting to when Russano came. She sat through the whole thing listening.  
  
"You are the Taggerung? The one that slew a giant eel and defeated Vallug Bowbeast?" Tales like that traveled far.  
  
Deyna laughed. "Slew a giant eel? Hah, it was normal sized."  
  
Nimbalo, sampling a mint potato and cheese sauce playfully thumped the former Taggerung on the head then slumped down in a seat. "He just wore it out, it was really me who slew it!"  
  
Deyna pushed him off the chair. "Nimbalo the Slayer, you are a dreadful liar!"  
  
Nimbalo popped up from underneath Deyna's chair. "Not really. I was a horrible liar, but someone slayed me, and now I'm a dreadful liar."  
A rat named Rukkug who fired the arrow that nearly caught Log-a-log stamped down on a dry pine twig. "I almost got that shrew with an arrer!"  
  
Suru, pushing a stray twig in the fire, laughed dully. "Almost? Yew missed, and a miss is a good as a league off!"  
  
Rukkug scoffed. "This Redwall place ain't worth is. Lookit us, living off the land while we could be out'n the sea!"  
  
Cuttail protested. "We don't have no ship! What now, Rukkug?"  
  
Rukkug had an idea forming. "We asks the stoopid mice for some building stuff. When dey comes, we slay most them and take a few beasts to build our ship. Mebbe some of us could rule Redwall!"  
  
Suru nodded, but had a sarcastic reply. "Oh, a grand ould idea, but did yer see the otters and squirrels? There was a wolf up there!"  
  
Cuttail shook his dirty head, picking an apple off the ground and spearing it one a sharp stick. "They die as easily as anybeast. My grandfather saw a wolf once. It didn't do nothing to 'im!"  
  
Suru, stabbing a pear, asked a very sarcastic reply. "And did 'e find himself eated after that, or was the youse stoopid brain forgetting somethin!"  
ShadowSong and Deyna were training the normally docile Redwallers in combat. There was a full armory in the belltower, and even great amounts of pebbles near the Abbey pond.  
  
ShadowSong shook her furry black head. "Sister Rosabel, the lance end points the other way."  
  
The squirrel Sister bashfully tilted the tip toward the apple that she was supposed to be aiming at. She pulled her arm back for the throw, but the sleek yew wood slipped out of her paw's grasp. Blushing a deep crimison beneath her fur, she bent down to pick it up.  
  
A slingstone fell to the grass next to her face. ShadowSong grabbed a bow, clipped an arrow on, and swung up and loosed over the battlements. An agonized scream split the air. ShadowSong shot three more, but to no avail. Every beast present heard the shout from Suru. "This is war!"  
  
ShadowSong hooked another arrow on the beeswaxed string, but Deyna placed a paw on her shaft. "Wait. They're slinging stones, because we have rounded pebbles on the Abbey pond area, and this one was sharp and irregular." He turned. "Everybeast inside, it ain't safe nomore out here for a while!" Redwallers quickly streamed in the oaken door, Broggle slamming it shut for the second time that day.  
  
There were two thousand hares on the mountain. Icebright, ignoring all rules, stormed into the widest part of the mountain, the training arena, and shouted, "I want Colonel Jegat, Sergant Rulnear, and Captain Uglar to round up three hundred hares each. Don't stand there all day, do it!"  
  
They officers stood smartly at attention for a minute, then the Badger Lady slammed the door. Colonel Jegat slumped down on a carved rock chair, which was scarred and dented from miss thrown daggers. "Super dooper, wot, we have to round up nine hundred beasts! Where do we start, Rulnear?"  
  
The Sergant snorted. "Easy, old chap. Listen up, wot wot!" He took in a breath, then bellowed: "Listen up, chaps and chappesses! You want to fight in the bally old Long Patrol, eh? You sloppy rabbits need some experience, not chopping away at some fire hole, wot! I want nine lines of a hundred, here, here and here! Euillliiiaaaaaaa!"  
  
A roar exploded from the vast chambers of the dormant cavern. An echo erupted from the sides, detonating everywhere. "Euillliiiaaaaaaa! Euillliiiaaaaaaa! Euillliiiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"  
  



	11. The strike of a shadow

Icebright stood at the foot of the mountain, gleaming in her spike-studded armor and helmet. Her favorite weapons, two mace and chain and a saber, were lashed to her belt and wrapped around her massive blue-gray paws. The one hundred hares she had collected herself were spread out, each with six- day rations and weapons. The door of the volcano creaked open. Five score hares marched out at a time, sand crushing beneath their footpaws, various blades and other weaponry splayed across the mighty horde of Salamandstron.  
  
After what seemed like a season to the Badger Lady, the last hare stamped out of Salamandastron. She held up her saber, named Steelslay, and roared, "Euuaillliaaaaaaaaaa!"  
  
The battle cry echoed her back. "Euuuaiilliiiaaaa!"  
  
Mooneye waved, and swept away a threatening tear. Turning, the harecook, Neallem, handed her a napkin from the table, all set for dinner. "Now, Lady, your sister will come back, she's a tough old bird, wot! Just like your mater, Cregga Rose Eyes."  
  
The badger took the cloth, and dabbed at her cream colored eyes. "Oh, Neallem, what was my mother like?"  
  
The hare stood up tall, proudly. "Hah! She could slay anybeast, and live to tell the tale! Just like your sister, Icebright!"  
  
(A/N I know Cregga had no daughters, but it fits with the storyline, so go along with it.) Mooneye stared at the damp kercheif. "But she died, didn't she?"  
  
The female cookhare sadly pulled out another kercheif. "Yes, marm, but died for another cause, to be peaceful. She will meet your father, Swordstripe, and live peacefully."  
  
Mooneyes looked at the distant dustcloud. "I hope Icebright won't soon, Neallem."  
  
Ruggan had ordered his clan to move deeper into Mossflower, for shelter from Salamandastron. Still thinking about the omen, he slashed at the overgrowth. His saber whistled a mournful tune and it sang and cleared the foilage.  
  
Ruggan trekked through the deep grass, undergrowth and piled up leaves. Ordering his clan to go on the road north, he grabbed a ferret called Rustclaw. "Track ahead. Search for food, shelter and fresh water. Now!"  
  
Rustclaw saluted with her red claw, scarlet from a bad incident with wolfbane, and ran off. Ruggan pawed his saber as her trotted. Ermrath was fixing a bone pattern on a necklace as she went. He wished that Rustclaw would find shelter soon for it would a bad night. He noted the storm clouds, alluding to rain and thunder.  
  
At dinner, ShadowSong was the amazment of the Abbeybabes. They tugged at her ears and tail, never seeing a wolf so up close before, besides the war council meeting.  
  
"Whurr you acomin from, marm?"  
  
"Hehe, dis tail, it softie!"  
  
Abbess Mhera shooed the curious Dibbuns away, apologizing to ShadowSong. "Those Dibbuns, no manners. I'm sorry they never learn."  
  
ShadowSong smiled. "Oh, I don't mind. The pups at the den never got over a wandering squirrel that once visited. It's the same thing."  
  
Nimbalo plopped next to her and nodded. "Aye, me matey Tagg- er, Deyna, ate snakyfish pie. Mmmm, elvers are delicious!"  
  
Deyna nodded, hiding a grin. "Hamsing goldie ate them all to, didn't you?"  
  
Nimbalo made a face and scooped up a bite of the strawberry fritter that was resting on Deyna's plate. "He's a cruel un, teasing me!"  
  
ShadowSong liked the carefree manner of the harvest mouse and the warrior likeness of Deyna. She ate some of her fritter and pastie, watching the Dibbuns stuff each other. Redwall had a mix of careing elders, officious adults, warriors and children. She had gained admiracy for the Abbey, for all the few hours she had been there.  
  
The Abbess, seated on the female wolf's right, asked her a question. "What did your pack do? I saw beautiful stones in your sling pouch, and well kept weaponry. They are indeed exquisite!"  
  
ShadowSong took a sapphire out of her dockleaf bag and handed it to the otter. "Moonsky wolf pack is known for their mining and smithing. We had many mines, searching for precious gemstones to trade for metal. We had large amounts of silver, gold, steel mines-- the largest mine was steel. The gem mines were smaller, but the stones were all together. We foraged blades of all kinds, and added the minerals from the mines to make a magnificent sword, rapier, saber, scimitar, and cutlass, anything with a blade. The stones, if too large for weapon or disfigured in some way, we use for slinging."  
  
The Abbess sighed, looking at the azure stone, shiny from polishing and candlelight. "Such a wonderous pack. It is a shame it was destroyed."  
  
ShadowSong nodded. "We were mining gold. At a break, I was practicing with my glaive when they struck. My pack numbered fifty. They had three hundred. Struck by ambush. I managed to take a few with them... about a score. But I was knocked unconcious and thought to be dead. They didn't plunder the mines, raid the den, or anything. Just slew and left."  
  
The Abbess wiped a small glistening speck away with a webbed paw. "If you want, you could live here, since your pack is at rest."  
  
ShadowSong smiled, wiping a tear away. "I would love that, Mother Abbess."  
  
A glass windowpane shattered--- a slingstone from the outside. ShadowSong grabbed her weapons and ran to the battlements, other beasts following.  
  
Suru glanced from the ground up. "Keep slinging, Cuttail."  
  
Cuttail whirled his sling, and shot. A stone soared, then landed in the broken pane. A shout, scream and shriek sounded at once. Then a Dibbun cried out.  
  
"Wake up, Gulbur! Dat stone hitta Gulbur!"  
  
At the walltop, ShadowSong heard the cry-Gulbur was the Dibbun that had first came to her when being introduced, not at all afraid of her. Howling, she launched a stone with a cry like a wounded beast.  
  
The ruby left the stone like gossamer, and slammed into Cuttail's skull. Redwallers for seasons to come would speak of what came next. The stone tunneled through Cuttail's skull, through his brain and out. He died with a hole through his head, clear through.  
  
ShadowSong loaded another stone, this one a silver nugget with mixed minerals in it, but Deyna put his paw on it. "No more. I think they got the picture."  
  
ShadowSong shook with rage. "Hurting a Dibbun, the scum!"  
  
Deyna stared at the aperture in the rat's cranium. "Marm, that stone... it went through his noggin!"  
  
Nimbalo, with a bow, nodded. "Stuff they need--- to clear their head out!" He shot a shaft down, and was rewarded with a scream. Suru yelled. "Sling, me hearties, sling!"  
  
A hail of stones shot upward, clattering on the sandstone wall. The Abbess poked her head up. "I think... Unkkhhh!"  
  
Deyna scooped up his struck sister. "Everybeast but Nimbalo, ShadowSong, Log-a-log, Skipper, the otters and Guosim inside!" The group of creatures left. Nimbalo loosed two more shafts.  
  
"ShadowSong, only a beast of your strength could make a rock go straight through a beast's head!" He heard a curse and yell, and launched another shaft.  
  
ShadowSong smiled grimly. "Aye. My strength was once said by a stranger to match a full grown male badger. My father-" she paused, and launched a stone, a yelp and curse following. "My father said no male in the pack could best me."  
  
Nimbalo nodded, loosed a shaft, and nodded again, satisfied with a scream. "I agree with yore pater. 'E musta been a great beast."  



	12. The gain of a shadow

An hour later, after discovering worthless attempted to scale or attack resulted in death or being maimed, the crew of wounded, injured and discouraged sea pirates fled to the woods, leaving their slain shipmates behind.  
  
Dilear stared out at the body of Cuttail, and the hole in his head. "That wolf is no fool-- she can slay anybeast, I takes me oath on it!"  
  
Halfsnout attempted to snort, but his sliced muzzle proved it physically impossible. "And yew didn't even fire a bow or sling, yew worthless lump of barnacle!"  
  
Rukkug twanged his bowstring defiently. "Yew try to fire anything up there, chopnose! See them battlements? Yew try to get anything that 'igh, cutsnout!"  
  
Suru stamped into view, his paw bandged and wrapped in dockleaves and mud. Nimbalo's arrow had scored a hit on his right paw-- it would be useless for a while. Angry, he whisked out his whip and lashed Rukkug, shouting.  
  
"Whose place it is to scorn other beasts? Whose!?"  
  
Rukkug cried out in pain. "Ahh! Er, er, yores, yores, Cap'n! Arrrggghhhhh!" Suru flung his whip end at the unfouruante rat's back. "Not yores! Let this be a lesson, dumb 'ead!" He whirled around, whip in his left paw. Facing the group of vermin, he shouted. "Anybeast else wanna try?"  
  
The group dumbly shook their heads.  
In Redwall, the infirmary, anxious beasts awaited the Dibbun Gulbur's fate.  
  
Sister Cilily shooed creatures from the bedside. "Silly beasts! Move, I need to wake this Dibbun!"  
  
Foremole shook her head. "Poor beastie, hurr, 'e awas hit in yurr noggin, hurr. Oi 'opes 'e lives, burr aye!"  
  
Sister Rosabel stamped her paw. "He will live, and don't doubt it!"  
  
Fwirl nodded her head, agreeing. "Yes, he will. Moles have thick skulls for burrowing, so a little rock won't harm him!"  
  
The infirmary nurse glared at the patients, speaking in a low voice so the Dibbuns on the other side of the bed would not hear. "That was no little rock. The sharp end hit Gulbur on the neck stem- any harder, and we would be minus a Dibbun!"  
  
Sister Rosabel glanced at the Dibbuns, who were inspecting the infirmary medicines with obvious distaste. "Sister, it may be true, but don't go around shouting it to the Dibbuns. They are very sensitive to such things- to lose a friend would hurt them dearly!"  
  
Gulbur, in his tiny bed, shuffled a bit and murmured. "Urr, wot 'it me?"  
  
Sister Cilily hurried over and dosed the muttering mole with a spoon of physick. "Drink it all!"  
  
The mole coughed. "Urr! Doan't make me, marm!"  
  
She tipped the spoon at a 180-degree angle, so it dripped into the mole's mouth while he was speaking. He glared, but it was no match for the infamous stare of the infirmary nurse. She tilted the spoon, nodded, and gave him a drink of October Ale, to cure the ache.  
  
A patter of paws sounded outside the door. The Abbess, lying in a bed with a poultice and bandage wrapped around her head, called weakly. "Some beast let the creature in!"  
  
Gulbur looked at the beasts at the door. "'Ello, marm Shaderswong, Nimbero, an Durna."  
  
ShadowSong stepped over to his sickbay divan. "Hello. Is Gulbur alright, Sister?"  
  
The Sister turned and curtised, smiling. "Oh, hello, ShadowSong. He will live. How is the fight on the walltop doing?"  
  
Nimbalo answered. "Fine, marm, but we need more beasts. Perhaps--"  
  
Boorab piped in. "I say, jolly mate, the best thing for a battle is a Long Patrol hare! Why don't we Eualia up the old badger bonce, wot wot?"  
  
Deyna glared a stern glare at the hare. "Sir, please--"  
  
A loud bang emitted from the battlement, echoing with a yell and joyful shout. "We got it, Cap'n!"  
  
The fighting beasts ran outside to the battlements. ShadowSong gasped in horror.  
  
A large gap had been blown into the side. She steaded herself against the walltop, but a smoking chunk on sandstone whirled up from the outside smacked her tail. She barked angrily, and pulled out her sling, the other beasts doing the same. Whipping a slingstone in the cord, she whirled and loosed.  
  
The stone flewat amazing speeds and smashed home in Rukkug's heart. He groaned, leaned over, and slumped. Suru looked at the parapet, and snarled. The wolf was slinging again!  
  
"Halfsnout, Dilear, grab his carcass and sling it out there in the shrubs for the bugs to pick out! The rest of youse, fire yore bows and sling!"  
  
Due largly to the fear of the wolf and angry defenders, the slings and bows went poorly. The main amount of stones and arrows punctured the ground in front of the Abbey, but some landed on the main walltops, at the defender's footpaws.  
  
Deyna laughed. "Lookit them! Proper searats they are, but archers and slingers they aren't!"  
  
Foremole nodded solmenly. "Burr aye zurr. Ooan arrer nearly got above 'e bakklments, hurr aye!"  
  
The Abbess was crouched behind a pile of rubble, refusing to stay in the Abbey, but remaining in battle action view. She called out to the defenders. "What are they doing? Are they leaving?"  
  
Nimbalo loosed an arrow, then nodded. "Marm, they're scrambling like beetles afore a bird!"  
  
Another bomb of fire and steel flew up. A shrew on the battlements was scored deeply in the paw, burnt and scarred deeply. He stooped to a crouch, cursing. "Lousy searat steel couldn't scratch a Guisom!"  
  
The Abbess condescended behind a walltop, to smoothly and gracefuly that the searats didn't even figure out that the leader of Redwall was in arrow or sling range.  
  
Deyna looked down at his crouching sister. "Some kind of steel-sling weapon. It might be best to--"  
  
Steel-sling ammunition flew over the battlements and shattered, firey shards flinging across the ruby-colored stone walltops. Nimbalo stooped, then leapt up clutching his tail, which was burnt by a large shaving of hot metal. Crying out, he clamored loudly, "Everybeast inside, mates!"  
  
An arrow skimmed his headfur narrowly, some fur flying off. Deyna grabbed his sling and bow and quickly shepherded the Abbeybeasts indoors. Deyna was slamming the door when a steel-sling punctured the door, leaving a pocket mark in oaken door.  
  
Lady Icebright the Feared, or so was her proper name called throughout the mountain, had marched her hares over lands to the east towards Mossflower. She hefted her two mace and chain weapons with ease, watching the new recruits that the generals had seen promise in. They marched correctly, for all except one.  
  
Bargale, a young fresh recruit who was excellent at his spear fighting, didn't know much about marching. He often stepped on the nearest recruit's footpaws, but always had the same remark back at the complaining officer. "Just doing me marching duty, wot wot!"  
  
Lady Icebright had no tollerance for fools or setback. A line immediately parted for her to stamp through. Bargale was chatting with a stone-faced officer when the Badger Lady strode up to him and bellowed in his ear.  
  
"Sir Bargale, you are going to march next to me!" She glared at the staring hares, veterans and new warriors alike. "Keep moving!"  
  
Bargale looked pleadingly at the officer, but the official shook his head. Young Bargale had set himself up for the punishment.  



	13. The enemy of a shadow of a shadow

Ruggan Bor hacked at the undergrowth, arms staggering. He had been cutting at this blasted foliage for the past four hours, waiting for Redclaw to come back. His clan had been muttering about the worthlessness of this mission, but he pressed ahead, wanting to find shelter as soon as possible.  
  
Finally, the ferret returned. He had brought news of a forest of tight pine trees, and a few rock caves up the road a bit further. "And Chief, I noticed a big red building up ahead on the path. Perhaps--"  
  
Ruggan grabbed the ferret and dragged him close by the neck, whispering harsh words. "Don't mention that Abbey, you fool. That's the Abbey of Redwall, and don't you forget it!" The golden fox shoved Redclaw out of his way, heading towards Ermrath.  
  
Redclaw, who had not been with the Juskabor at the time when they were banished, was not likely to forget anything. His neck was painfully as crimison as his claw. The ferret hobbled off, clutching his sore and painful throat.  
  
Evening was settling in Mossflower woods. Icebright, noticing it was near the end of dusk and beginning to form night, sent three trackers to find any kind of cover. The three hares returned about five minutes after being sent off. One of the hares, Lurana, panted out an explanation.  
  
"We were scouting ahead, when we noticed a group of pawtracks, weasel, foxes, vermin. Going ahead further, we glimpsed a vermin horde. There was paint and verminy junk on their mugs. I would say the Juskabor!"  
  
Icebright froze. Her eyes flashed a deep scarlet, and she roared.  
  
Lurana and the two other trackers scattered, ducking thrown rocks and branches.  
  
"Eeuuaaaillliaaaaaaa!" The badger hurled a good-sized boulder at a rotting oak trunk. The trunk exploded, showering the hares with dead wood and insects.  
  
Bargale was not allowed to move from Icebright, mentally and physically. A long chain from one of her mace and chain was wrapped around his footpaws. Bargale was staring at his leader when a slingstone shot out from behind a chunk of boulder. A javelin hurled through the dense woodlands, thudding next to his head. A fox head poked up through the shrubbery, tattoos drawn on his thin face. Voices sounded out from behind the rock. Bargale jumped a fair distance over the rock, swinging his spear and bellowing, "Blood and vinegar, chaps!"  
  
The hares became alert, throwing what came to paw and swinging swords, sabers, rapiers, any weapon. Bargale was struck with an arrow on the footpaw when a huge paw crashed down on his left, knocking the fox out. Lady Icebright slammed one of her mace and chain on the vermin. His head cracked at a crazy angle, and he slumped. She snapped the chains from Bargale with a sharp tug. Bargale stared at the unbroken chains. The badger roared battle cries with her soldiers. The battle continued.  
  
The battle ended swiftly. No hares were dead; few were injured. A count of the vermin was up to six dead, two prisioners. The prisoners, a rat and a fox, were tied up with vines and guarded by tough veteran hares. Lady Icebright interrogated them mencingly.  
  
"Listen, I don't like vermin. Answer truly and you live for another question to be answered. Where is your clan?"  
  
The rat spat, but missed her. She cuffed him and growled.  
  
The fox was a true coward. He whined pitifully. "By the road, there's a bunch of caves. Oh, please don't slay us!"  
  
She snarled, and he fell silent. She turned to her three trackers. "How far up the road?"  
  
Lurana stiffly pointed up north with a tan paw. "Straight up a few leagues, marm."  
  
The rat kicked out at the fox. "What dew yew think yer doin?"  
  
The fox miserably took the lash of the rat's footpaw. "Ruggan ain't gonna spare us fer getting caughten. Iffen we escape, Chief's gonna slay us fer shore!"  
  
Sergant Jeget cuffed the rat and fox with his lance. "That fox is right, rat. Any more words, and you might be slung up on my lance!"  
  
Hares and a badger tramped towards the Juskabor. And to Redwall Abbey.  
  
Ruggan Bor and his tribe had found the caves Redclaw had mentioned. He sat huddled in the biggest with a few chosen members and his seer. Ermrath tossed seeds of flowers and feathers in a fire. She read the signs. "The messages that are coming are shrouded, My Lord. Perhaps Vulpez is sending a sign for who knows what goes on behind the—"  
  
Ruggan cut her off with a swift paw movement. "What of the badger?"  
  
Ermrath shrugged. "The badger, who knows? But surely one of the blood of the great Vulpez, who has wolf blood, can defeat--"  
  
The fire whirled up in a spiral and roared. Two faces appeared on the howling flames- a mouse and a badger. The mouse was clasping a sword and holding it in a warrior's salute. The badger hefted an immense battlepike, ruby eyes flashing. Both countenences wore determined looks. The mouse and badger shouted a single word, but it meant so much. The cry echoed off the walls, causing heads to swivel the cave's way. "Redwaaaaallll!"  
  
One thousand hares heard the cry. So did Lady Icebright the Feared.  
  
She hurled herself in the direction of the cry, wielding the immense pair of mace and chain. Crashing through the bushes and trees, she bellowed her battle cry. "Eulaliiiaaaaaaaaaa!"  
  
The hares rushed in after her, yelling their battle cries, waving weapons and pounding the earth flat.  
  
"Blood and vinegar!"  
  
"Death before dinner!"  
  
"Eulaliaaaaaaaa!"  
  
The wave of hares smashed into the ranks of stunned vermin horde. Sabers flashed, cutlasses sliced, swords slew, and about it all, the pounding of mace and chains rent the air.  
  
Ermrath and Ruggan saw the way the battle was turning. Quietly, the guards and the pair sneaked past the fighting, ducking and weaving. Finding the smallest cave, they slipped in. Hiding in a tiny hole in the wall, barely being seen, the seer and Juska leader held a whispered conversation.  
  
"What was that? A mouse and a badger appeared in the fire? Explain!"  
  
"My Lord, the spirits are angry. The battle is nearly fought over-- hear the heartless battle cries of the Juskabor?"  
  
"Yes, but I don't care about those doddering fools of a clan. Did you hear what the beasts in the fire said?"  
  
"Everybeast did- 'Redwall'. They said 'Redwall'!"  
  
"Then we must travel there. Why else would the signs point that way?"  
  
Ermrath, the six guards and Ruggan Bor stole through a hidden tunnel to the outside, running towards Redwall.  
  
Lady Icebright wiped her blade on a dead rat's tunic. Lurana took a count of dead hares.  
  
"All of the vermin are dead!" said the hare triumphantly. Lady Icebright looked her way.  
  
"How many of ours are lost?"  
  
Lurana wiped a tear away with an ear. "Three, marm- two were veterans, one a new recruit. May the Dark Forest preserve their memories!"  
  
Icebright kneeled by the slain hares. She dug a small scrape and buried all three. Sadly, she patted the earth. Bright-eyed, she arose. "Where is their leader- slain?"  
  
A new recruit was trading his weapon for a better one off the dead beasts when she asked. He stood up, and pointed at a killed ferret. "That one, marm?"  
  
She took a closer look. It was Redclaw. After a through inspection of all the dead bodies, she shook her head. "We didn't kill Ruggan Bor!"  
  
A kindly old hare stopped her from rushing off again. "Marm, eat, drink and rest. We can track him down tomarrow."  
  
She sighed, and accpeted a wedge of cheese, a flask of elderberry cordial and some crusty bread.  
  
Some of the hares were stripping the slain corpses of armor, weapons, and other things.  
  
"Where did this vermin get a ruby hilted saber, wot?"  
  
"Suppose he nicked it, old chap. Er, that sword, it mine!"  
  
Lady Icebright ordered some hares the solemn job of burying the carcasses. However, the hares pushed the cadavers in the cave and packed them tight with soil and undergrowth. The job was soon finished.  
  
After an hour of lazing around, napping and eating, the Badger Lady commanded the troops to move out. She was in the lead, heading towards the ledgendary Abbey of Redwall.  
  
Suru discovered a problem in his steel-sling plan. Often, shards of burning metal would fall upon the offensive, creating wounds and death. But he pressed on, feeling he would conquer the stone Abbey that day.  
  
Spoteye was the best at the steel-sling, for it was him that blew the hole in the wall. He laughed to Suru. "Aye, mate, looks like them Abbeybeasts run off all scared-like!"  
  
Suru nodded. "Keep it up. I will see to it that you will have a rich reward."  
  
Dilear, slinging normal stones, muttered to a rat on his right. "Huh, and what about us?"  
  
The rat, aptly named Halfleg, bobbed his head. "Aye, mate. This ain't the life fer us. Where is the ripe pickings, fresh meat, and plunder?"  
  
Dilear whispered to Halfleg, "Why don't we desert, mate? Get a few of the crew and run?"  
  
Halfleg grinned, showing yellow and brown fangs. "I likes that!"  
  
Dilear nodded. "Good! Get some trustworthy crew and let's leave afore we're slain!"  
  
In a few minutes, the desertion band had left, leaving only fifty out of the five score searat gang left. 


	14. The revenge of a shadow

  
  
In Redwall, the Abbeybeasts had come up with a desperate plan. The fit beasts would take any weapons they could find, like in the belltower or kitchen knives, and attack the crew outside Redwall.  
  
Before the attack, however, the famous Redwall cooks provided a delicious dinner for the dwellers of Redwall. Hot, fresh apple pies, steaming soups, crispy bread, misty drinks, and tasty trifes, anything that the cooks desired to create. A full array of cheeses was set out, including ones with nuts, dried fruit and vegetables packed in them. Hot pasties, stuffed with gravy and leeks, dribbed across the paws and mouth. Jellies wriggled under the jostling table and the scent of rosewater in bowls for messy paws drifted over the tables. The weakest sat next to the strongest, tinest next to the biggest.  
  
Everything was shared, even drink. There was no rule to eating- dessert first and soup last was fine, and vice versa.  
  
"Hoy, ShadowSong, try this candied chestnut trife. Here!"  
  
"Thank you, Nimbalo. Have you tried this hotroot soup?"  
  
"Have I? My toungue is on fire. Er, Deyna me old matie, don't hog that leek and mint pasty!"  
  
"I say, chaps, grumph schumch, this meadowcream tart is absoballylutly top hole, wot wot!"  
  
The dinner ended after a majority of the food had been eaten. The beasts that were going to fight collected weapons and loosened up.  
  
ShadowSong hefted her rapier and glaive with ease. The Dibbuns stared in awe at the grace and power of the female wolf. She gave them each a stone from her sling pouch. Gulbur ogled at his shiny black one. "Whurr did 'e gets these urr stoners, marm?"  
  
ShadowSong ruffled the mole's headfur. "At a place that doesn't exist now, far away. But just look at your stone for now." Nimbalo tossed a long pike in the air then caught it with a single paw. "Let's just hope that Redwall'll will exist again tonight!"  
  
Suru wished he had his crew back. Forty had deserted, and ten were slain with the sniping from the Redwallers. He was moping when he heard a rustle in the bushes nearby. Suru lashed at the shrubs with his whip, then a yelp emitted from the plants.  
  
"Owow!"  
  
Suru grabbed a passing weasel and shoved him into the bushes. "Pull whoever's in there out!"  
  
The weasel, Riyup, did not have to; the beasts crawled out of the shrubbery willingly.  
  
Suru stared at Ruggan Bor, Ermrath and the six Juskabor guards. "What are you doing 'ere, Bor?"  
  
The golden fox brushed him self off and glared at the whipped guard who had yelped. "My clan was slain. Surugial Seablade, what are you doing here?"  
  
Suru snapped at his former shipmate, who had sailed before commanding the Juskabor with the searat. "My boat was shipwrecked. Now we're taking over the Abbey, ain't youse gonna help?"  
  
Ruggan Bor brushed a speck of dead leaf from his gold pelt. "Are you sure that the Abbey can be taken over?"  
  
Suru glanced in between the trees at the red sandstone building. "Just a few harmless mice and a bumbling crew of otters," he lied. Suru wanted Ruggan to think that it was easy to conquer so he could ally with him.  
  
Ruggan stared with emotionless eyes at the green-tuniced searat. "The last time I was here, there was a badger and hares. Are you lying?"  
  
Suru bit his lip, but not so obvious that the fox could see. "Would I lie?" he asked innocently.  
  
Ruggan Bor stepping in view of Redwall. "I shall send my guards to fight. You, my seer and I will watch."  
  
Suru hated to not be in a fight, but six more fighters were not to be sneezed at with his numbers. He nodded, and ran to count his fighters for the last time before the battle. Ruggan Bor followed, but made the mistake of striding in full view of the Abbey defenders.  
  
ShadowSong was on the battlements with the otters, Deyna, Skipper, Log-a- log, the Guisom, Boorab, Nimbalo and a few willing mice watching the progress of the vermin. ShadowSong was leaving to go to the gate when Deyna whispered to Nimbalo. "Is that Ruggan Bor? The golden fox?"  
  
ShadowSong, having the keen ears of a wolf, heard the seven words. She hurled herself at the battlements, and saw her enemy.  
  
Ruggan Bor looked up just in time to see that black wolf leaning over that walltop. He froze with fear. This was the wolf that took out a full score of his beasts. He knew he had slain the wolf's father; she had shouted out between battle cries to him, warnings. She would want revenge.  
  
The fox turned tail and ran, towards the forest.  
  
ShadowSong nearly flew when she dashed through the gate house door. The other defenders rushed after her. The gate flung open, and Nimbalo swore he saw Martin the Warrior holding it open, a smile upon his face.  
  
Suru had set up his fighters the best way he thought possible-- strongest first, weakest last. His idea was the defenders would get tired of fighting the better creatures, then would be overwhelmed by the weak. He was counting his soldiers, and was about to go join Ruggan Bor and Ermrath when a howl sounded from the Abbey.  
  
The wolf, followed by guardians of Redwall, was streaming out of the red structure. He ran, just as the ex-leader of the Juskabor had, towards the woods.  
  
The Redwall fighters threw themselves at the snarling rats, foxes, weasels, ferrets and stoats. Many pirates of the CrabCarcass lost their lives in the first wave- only twenty-six survived to fight.  
  
ShadowSong swung her glaive like a spear, in arcs, slashes and slices. She was battling towards the back when she spotted a flash of gold fur in the trees. She jumped a long leap over the fighting vermin, which was only about three feet of beasts, and landed on her footpaws. She tore off into the distance, streaking after the bright fur that seemed to be a magnet to her.  
  
Ruggan Bor looked over his shoulder at the greenery behind him. Good! He had lost the wolf. He threw himself in a small clearing of grass and two large and flat rocks. Climbing on one of them, he panted.  
  
A slight rustle in the bushes behind him betrayed another beast's presence. Ruggan swerved, only to find patches of ferns and moss. He shrugged it off. Probably the wind.  
  
Ruggan waved his bushy tail in a carefree manner. After his little doze, he would find Ermrath and Suru. Hopefully, his guards and nearly three score were enough to conquer Redwall.  
  
Ruggan Bor rubbed his saber, hearing the small squeak of metal. He was about to close his eyes when a sharp thud and whish of a sword made them fly open.  
  
ShadowSong had pole-vaulted over him, and had landed on the other rock. Her face was placid, but her eyes were anything but serene. A slighty orange fire was glowing in them, and the glint of vegenence was manifest. Her rapier was at her side, shining. She smiled, but it was not a friendly one.  
  
"Ruggan Bor of the Juskabor. I was waiting for this moment for a long time." Her fangs gleamed in the sunlight. "I, a mere wolf maid, against the mighty Lord of the Southern Coasts." She hefted her glaive. "It is said that you are kin to the ruler of the Dark Forest, Vulpez. Wolf blood against wolf blood. Fight, Ruggan Bor of the Juskabor, against ShadowSong StarGlaive of the Moon Skyyyyyyyy!" 


	15. The song of a shadow

Lady Icebright stomped through the trees, massive mace and chain swinging in her prodigious paws. She paused, and Furgale bumped into her. He peeked a look at what was in front of her. "Oh my aunt's mittens!"  
  
ShadowSong lay over the rock she was on, the slain Juska Leader on the other. A stone was lodged in his throat, and a deep red patch on his chest revealed a stabbing. ShadowSong looked up at the hares and badger and whispered in a hoarse voice: "Who are you?"  
  
Lady Icebright, seeing that the wolf was a goodbeast, helped her up. A slash was across the she-wolf's tunic, slicing the dense fur slightly.  
  
ShadowSong ignored the wound and quickly asked, "Have you seen a searat in a green tunic and a seer fox recently? I must know!"  
  
Lady Icebright was about to answer when a yell from the troops issued out. "Rat!"  
  
Icebright turned to see that Furgale had crossed blades with a searat, no other than Surugial SeaBlade!  
  
A hare, Sunspur, drew her blade to defend the recruit, but a whisper in the trees caught her attention. She threw her blade, a dirk, and heard a juicy thud. Running over, she found a fox, very strangly clad, covered in seer's clothing. Picking her blade out, she spat on the vermin and ran back to the fighting.  
  
Suru was putting up a good fight, but compared to Furgale, he was slow and clumsy. Long Patrol training ad quickened him. However, his blade kept getting caught on trees, the two rocks and the ground. As the young hare stumbled, Suru swiftly lashed his whip around his opponent's footpaw, and lunged with his blade.  
  
Furgale swiftly moved out of the ways, coiling with whip and then loosing it, so it curled around the siletto. Suru yelped in surprise, an fell. Furgale thrashed the searat with his new found weapon, taunting, "Up on your paws, ratty!"  
  
Suru snarled, hastily getting up, "By the end of this battle, your tunic will be mine, like your life!"  
  
Furgale was ready on his footpaws, gibing the searat. "No thanks, you sea scum," he snapped, "and I'll have your life at my footpaws!" With that, he tensed, sensing what the rat was going to do next.  
  
Suru yelled, and sprung at the hare. Furgale leapt aside, and as Suru was slashing at air, the hare plunged his blade in the searat's back. Standing over the rat, he growled to the dying rat, "See the Dark Forest gates, louse-ridden rat!"  
  
The captain of the ship CrabCarcass stared into the darkening sky, seeing the gates behind film sheathed eyes.  
  
The battle was won, at a price. A burial done during sunset. Three shrews and an otter were slain in the fighting.  
  
Abbess Mhera sadly patted the flowers on a shrew's grave. Getting up, she sat next to Deyna at the edge of the Abbey pond.  
  
"How many were lost of the vermin?"  
  
Deyna flicked a pebble across the pond. It skated three times before it sank.  
  
"All, except the leaders- I don't know where they are."  
  
Mhera looked at the Abbey building. "Where is the wolf, ShadowSong?"  
  
Deyna looked at his sister in some slight surprise. "I thought you knew."  
  
Mhera stood up, dusting her green robe off. "Perhaps-"  
  
The oaken door to the Abbey walls banged. A male beast yelled, "Open up, you chaps and chappesses!"  
  
Boorab leapt up, then winced. He had suffered from a leg wound. Wobbling over to the gate, he shouted back. "Who are you, sah? Name and rank!"  
  
A stern female voice sounded out. "ShadowSong StarGlaive of the Moonsky wolf pack!"  
  
Boorab knew that voice and name; he threw the doors open.  
  
An amazing sight met the Abbeydwellers eyes. The Long Patrol of hares, ten deep and a hundred wide, were outside the Abbey walls. In the front of all them was a black wolf clad in a pale gray tunic, clasping a long spear-like weapon, and a huge badger with a near tint of blue in her white stripe.  
  
Mhera ran to the gates. "ShadowSong!"  
  
ShadowSong bowed. "Abbess Mhera, this is one of the successors to Lady Cregga Rose Eyes, Lady Icebright. Lady Icebright, this is Abbess Mhera, Abbess of Redwall."  
  
Icebright bowed also. She eyed Redwall. "Such a wonderous place you have!"  
  
The Abbess beckoned. "Come in!"  
  
The hares broke ranks and ran into Redwall Abbey. The Abbeydwellers laughed.  
  
The Abbess turned to ShadowSong. "May you stay here as another champion to aid Deyna?"  
  
ShadowSong smiled. "I will, Abbess."  
  
The Abbess curtsied. "Thank you. Now, you can help prepare the end of the seige of Redwall feast!"  
  
ShadowSong nodded. "I'll be in the kitchens!"  
  
The Abbess ran off to the kitchens. ShadowSong opened her sling pouch and looked at the stone she had pulled out before coming to Redwall. A face reflected in it, but it wasn't hers.  
  
"Thank you, Martin the Warrior, for bringing me to Redwall."  
  
A/N Sorry it took so long to update. But I hope you like it! I sorta rushed the ending, my spelling and spell check was off, my grammer could be better but hey! It's a finished fic. Be sure to read my other Redwall fic, Ruddaring Sunsets! -Shadowsong StarGlaive of the Moonsky wolf pack 


End file.
